Parenting coordination is an incredibly useful tool to help parents (or parent substitutes) co-
parent successfully outside of court.
The two primary objectives of Donovan Parenting Coordination (DPC) are:
1. To help the parents improve their communication skills
2. To help parents resolve agenda items. This generally means implementing existing parenting plans, which could mean fleshing out details, filling in gaps, and clarifying responsibilities.
Areas commonly addressed include: activities, holidays and vacations, devices and phone usage, medical decisions and appointments, exchanges, transportation, clothing, haircuts, bedtimes and other household rules.
Caution: Areas generally not addressed include: Financial issues (except if truly about
implementation and doesn’t stray too far into mediation) and MAJOR decisions or adjustments to existing Agreements about custody and timesharing.
By agreement of all (attorneys and parents), sometimes a PC can make small decisions.
How does PC get started?
The usual process is some combination of the following (varies
among parenting coordinators):
The PC communicates with attorneys, if any, to get up to speed on issues identified, personalities, and problems to be aware of;
The PC gets appointed formally by way of court order;
The parents complete short questionnaires and sign any contract;
The PC reviews relevant pleadings;
The PC meets with the parents individually;
The PC meets with the parents jointly (this is where most of the work takes place).
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